TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hoynes,Hilary W.
AU  - Schanzenbach,Diane
TI  - Consumption Responses to In-Kind Transfers: Evidence from the Introduction of the Food Stamp Program
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13025
PY  - 2007
Y2  - April 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13025
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13025.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Hilary W. Hoynes
Department of Economics
University of California, Davis
One Shields Ave.
Davis, CA  95616-8578
Tel: 530/564-0505
Fax: 530/752-9382
E-Mail: hwhoynes@ucdavis.edu

Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
School of Education and Social Policy
Northwestern University
Annenberg Hall, Room 205
2120 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
Tel: 847/491-3884
E-Mail: dws@northwestern.edu
AB  - Economists have strong theoretical predictions about how in-kind transfer programs -- such as providing vouchers for food -- impact consumption.  Despite the prominence of the theory, there has been little empirical work documenting actual responses to in-kind transfers.  In this work, we leverage previously underutilized variation in the date of the county-level original implementation of the Food Stamp Program in the 1960s and early 1970s.  Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we employ difference-in-difference methods to estimate the impact of program availability on food spending, labor supply and family income. Consistent with theoretical predictions, we find that the introduction of food stamps leads to a decrease in out of pocket food spending, an increase in overall food expenditures, and a decrease (although insignificant) in the propensity to take meals out. The results are quite precisely estimated for total food spending, with less precision in estimating the impacts on out of pocket food costs. We find evidence of small work disincentive impacts in the PSID, which is confirmed with an analysis of the 1960, 1970 and 1980 Census.
ER  -